THE Daily Telegraph can reveal that the Sydney men charged with planning a terrorist attack came to Australia as refugees under the former Labor government.
One entered the country illegally. And the other was on the dole.
Omar al-Kutobi, 24, arrived in Australia by plane in 2009 as an Iraqi national using another person’s passport, a senior intelligence source has confirmed to The Daily Telegraph.
They also confirmed that he was granted a protection visa soon after and that he was then granted citizenship in 2013.
That he had arrived using a false passport was only recently discovered.
It was also confirmed that the second man charged, Mohammad Kiad, entered Australia in 2012.
He was granted a visa under the family and spousal visa arrangements.
Kiad was receiving welfare, a Newstart allowance, at the time of his arrest.
It is believed he applied for and was granted welfare within 12 months of arriving in Australia.
Al-Kutobi had also previously been on a Newstart allowance.
However, he was not at the time of his arrest.
